Anti-vibrating check valves



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United States-Patent O lwf '12,914,085 ANU-visitarme CHECK vALvEs VJean MercieNew original application Aprilia, 1952, .serial Nn. 281,118,

now Patent No. 2,714,392, dated August 2, 1955. Di-

vided and this application4 May 3 1955, Serial No. 508,097

2 Claims. (CL 137--514) l tion of the circular area of said seat on which said movable member bears in the ultimate closed position by the shocks occuring during the approach of the movable valve member towards its seat.

Still another object of my invention is to reduce the vibrations of the movable valve member when the same is submitted to variable pressure conditions.

With these objects in view the valve seat isgiven the shape of a convex revolution surface, while the active surface of the movable valve member is given the shape of a sphere, means being provided to allow an alignment of said spherical surface in respect to said convex surface and dampen the vibrations of said movable member.

When the pressure is lowered sufciently, the movable valve member is urged towards its seat by a spring and, assuming a defect of alignment between its and the seat axes, cornes in contact with a portion of the seat different from the portion on which it will rest in the ultimate closing position.

Due to the vibrations damping means and alignment facilitiesl provided, the movable valve member may be displaced by the iluid pressure and is brought into its ultimate closing position, without deforming the useful sealing area of the seat. Thus, a perfect seal along a linear undeformed circular area is always established without objectionable deformations and wear of the active area of the seat.

The valve according to my invention comprises a piston slidably mounted in a bore coaxial with the convex revolution surface of the seat, said piston being mounted in said bore with a t ensuring a dampening of the vibrations of said movable member under variable tluid pressure conditions, and means to assure radial alignment of the spherical active surface of the movable valve member in respect to said seat.

According to one embodiment of my invention, the movable member is constituted by two separate parts, one having the shape of a piston slidably mounted in a bore coaxial with the seat of the valve, while the second part is constituted by a ball interposed between said seat and the extremity of the piston facing said seat, means being provided to establish a connection between said ball and said piston such that, while allowing the ball to be radially displaced in respect to the piston, said ball tends to follow the piston in its axialI displacements, whereby the dampening effect due to the friction of the piston in its bore is transmitted to said ball.

s Y 2,914,085 Patented Nov. 24, 1959 It is particularly contemplated to limit the radial displacements of the ball in respect to the piston and, thus, in respect to the seat.

According to another feature of my invention, the piston is magnetized, while the ball is made of hard steel, so as to be attracted by said piston. Thus, the proper connection between piston and ball is established.

Itis to be understood that, depending upon the operating conditions, .theetlicient sealing area of the valve may be rendered as small as desired by reducing the radius of curvature of the valve seat and its closure member, this radius being calculated, for instance, in a manner similar to thatl which allows to determine the diameter of the rolling bodies inconventional ball bearings, to thereby permit the valve to resist the operating forces exerted thereon.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will'be apparent from the following detailed description, together with the accompanying drawings, submitted for purposes of illustration only and not intended to dene the scope of the invention, reference being had for that purpose to the subjoined claims. p

Figs. 1, 2 and 3 each show a sectional view of ardifferent.exemplicationof the present invention.

In Fig. 1, I have shown an embodiment comprising a seat 1 having the shape of a convex revolution surface provided in the valve casing 5 and a piston 3a slidably mounted in said casing with a fit ensuring the dampening of vibrations due to variable fluid pressure conditions.

In this embodiment, the movable member is constituted of two separate parts, namely the piston 3a having a cylindrical wall and a ball 11 forming the valve closing member cooperating with seat 1, said ball being interposed between said seat and said piston.

The piston 3a is magnetized and the ball 11 is made of hard steel so as to be attracted by the piston '3a. The piston is provided with tongues 12 limiting the radial displacements of the ball 11 in respect to the piston 3a.

The fluid enters the valve casing at 7, ows through the passages 10 provided in body of the piston 3a, and leaves the valve casing at 8. A spring 9 urges the movable valve members 311-11 towards the seat 1.

The arrangement of parts shown in Fig. 2 is similar to that of Fig. 1, except that the iluid inlet and outlet opening of the valve casing are located both on the same side of piston 3b.

In this arrangement, the space above piston 3b is opened to the atmosphere through a passage 15 and the piston is provided with a packing ring 1'3.

In the example of Fig. 2, the radial displacements of ball 11 in respect to the piston 3b are limited by shoulders 14 instead of by the tongues 12 of Fig. l.

Referring now to Fig. 3, l have shown an arrangement similar to that of Fig. 2, with the difference that the means to limit the radial displacements of the ball 11 are constituted by a shallow recess 16 formed in the working face of piston 3b.

While the invention has been described with particular reference to a preferred embodiment, it is not intended to limit the scope of the invention to the embodiment illustrated, nor otherwise than by the terms of the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A check valve assembly comprising a cylindrical valve casing having one end formed with a uid inlet port and its other end formed with a Huid outlet port, a valve seat constituted by a circular convex surface formy ing part of the inlet, a damping piston member having a member inserted in said casing between `said inlet porty and said working face of 'the piston member for free transverse movement with respect to said valve seat and adapted to engage the latter in a circle of contact to thereby close said seat, one of said piston or ball members being a permanent magnet and the other being of magnetic metal so that said ball member is Iheld by magnetic attraction on said working face of the piston member for longitudinal movement therewith while having a free transverse rolling relation thereto, a plurality of longitudinally extending tongues on said working face of the piston member to limit the transverse rolling movement of said ball member toward the inner wall of said casing, and resilient means urging said piston member toward said seat to thereby apply said ball member on said circular convex surface thereof, whereby self-centering transverse rolling movement of said ball member with respect to said circle of ycontact may be accomplished to bring said ball member into properly centered valve closing position.

2. A check valve assembly comprising a cylindrical valve casing formed with a fluid inlet port and a fluid outlet port, a valve seat constituted by a circular convex surface forming part of the inlet, a damping piston member having a working face mounted to move within said casing toward and away from said valve seat, a self-centering ball valve member between said inlet port and said outlet port adapted to engage said circular convex surface in a circle of contact to `close said seat, one of .said piston or ball members being la permanent magnet and the other being of magnetic metal so that said ball member is held by magnetic attraction on said working face of the piston member for longitudinal movement therewith while having a free transverse rolling relation thereto, a 4circular shallow concave recess in said working face to restrain the `transverse rolling movement of said ball member toward the inner wall of said casing, and resilient means ,urging `said piston member toward said seat to thereby apply said ball member on said circular convex surface thereof, whereby self-centering transverse rolling movement of said ball member toward said contact c ircle'en'gagement may be accomplished to bring said ball member into properly centered valve closing position.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 391,143 Hadden Oct. 16, 1888 1,001,846 Har-ley Aug. 29, 1911 1,576,269 Durant Mar. 9, 1926 2,042,216 Edwards May 26, 1936 2,097,629 Lowrey Nov. 2, 1937 2,541,395 Wilson Feb. 13, 1951 2,564,815 Raymond Aug. 21, 1951 2,693,767 Vroman Nov. 9, 1954 v2,693,933 Meinke Nov. 9, 1954 

